WriterCon UK

sweetheartwhale

tlanti

We have fourteen people signed up so far but we need TWO more before 10 August so that we can contact the hotel and confirm that we are going ahead*, so if you are planning to come to Writercon UK 2019 (details below), please sign up NOW!!

This year's meeting will take place on Friday 13th September to Sunday 15th September at Ramada Hotel, The Butts, Coventry, CV1 3GG. The Membership Cost is £49 (to cover room hire, wine, goody bags, and a small contribution towards the craft materials).

* If we cancel on 10 August, we'll have to pay a token cancellation fee but anyone who has already paid their membership fee will be refunded in full. If we leave it any later, we'll have to pay whopping £300+, so we are being strict about this deadline!!

Once we have 16 people we are good to go but, obviously, the more the merrier!

Don't forget: this year's meet-up will take place on Friday 13th September to Sunday 15th September at Ramada Hotel, The Butts, Coventry, CV1 3GG. The Membership Cost is £49 (to cover room hire, wine, goody bag, and a small contribution towards the craft materials).

We need at least 16 people to sign up before 10 August for the event to go ahead, so please sign up here as soon as you can -- you can pay nearer the time if it's more convenient.

The sooner you sign up and we know your current fandoms, the easier it will be to organise talks, the craft project, the quiz and the goody bags, so expect to see more reminders :-)

After three years of sterling work,

hab318princess has decided to step down as treasurer so, at the AGM on Sunday, we'll be calling for a replacement.

Please have a think if this is something you are interested in doing. I'm sure

hab318princess will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the position and what it involves.

Just some last minute details:

The Lebanese restaurant. A table for 20 is booked for 8.00. (They know us: "Yes, you come every year; you all have funny nicknames.") I will circulate a couple of menus before the quiz so we can choose what we want beforehand and give them a list as we arrive to speed things up. (There is also an online Menu here if you want a preview).

The Buffet.

hab318princess has kindly been liaising with the hotel staff for us, and we've agreed the following menu:

STARTERS
Curried Sweet Potato Soup with Onion Cream (on the side) Allergens: Milk
Salad Station: Mixed Leaves, peppers, red onion, Pomegranate
Meat & Cheese Board: Ham, peppered pastrami, salami, cheese, tapenade Allergens: Milk

MAIN DISHES
Chicken Fillets with a mushroom, caper & parsley sauce* Allergens: Milk
Tilapia Fillets with a sautee leeks, fennel & mustard sauce* Allergens: Milk, Mustard
Roast Cauliflower Risotto (v)
Served with roast potatoes and roasted Mediterranean vegetables (with no tomatoes!).
* We've asked for the sauces to be served separately.

DESSERTS
Chocolate Torte Allergens: Milk, Trace of nuts. Gluten free
Mixed Fruit Eton Mess Allergens: Milk
Fresh Fruit Salad

There will also be wine and soft drinks provided.

Saturday Lunchtime. There will be a special menu for us, with a wide choice, at lunchtime on Saturday.

Cocktails. We will have a cocktail menu as usual.

Raffle. Don't forget to bring things for the raffle!!

Parking. Car parking is free as part of our special deal. It might be wise to mention it to the staff when you check in and check out.

Bar Food. They have a new system where you have to order bar food in the restaurant, but you can eat it in the bar. Not sure how it works, but we'll find out tomorrow!

See you tomorrow in the bar!

Just two weeks to go until this year's event on September 7, and the hotel has asked us to give them final numbers by next Thursday so, if you're still thinking of joining us,

you must sign up by Wednesday 29!

(If you want to see who else is attending, there's a list on the sign-up post, here).

Programme

Here is the programme for this year's event, with a craft workshop, discussions, and lots of fun!

Raffle

One of the highlights of the weekend is the free raffle, which we hold on the Sunday morning as part of our AGM. Everybody gets to choose a prize, and sometimes, thanks to the generosity of their fellow attendees, everybody gets to choose two!

In the past, we've had books, dvds, stationery, action figures and other fandom toys, wine, chocolates, offers of original artwork (including custom-made story banners), and beautiful knitted items, all donated by our generous attendees.

So when you pack your suitcase, please don't forget to bring one or two items for the raffle!

Friday Night trip to the Lebanese Restaurant

For the last two years, most of us have eaten at the Aqua Lebanese restaurant (which is just a few minutes' walk from the hotel) on the Friday night. The food is delicious and we have a lot of fun.

Please comment on this post if you'd like to join us at the restaurant, and I will book a table.

If you've signed up but haven't yet paid your membership fee, please pay asap -- there are instructions on the sign-up post. (And if you're not sure whether you've paid or not, just comment and I'll check for you ;-)

If you're still deciding: the hotel has asked us to confirm numbers at least two weeks before the event. So

please sign up here by Friday 24 August.

We'll post the programme of events as soon as it's finalised, but I can already tell you that there will be a craft session, two or three talks about various aspects of fandom and creating fanworks, discussion panels, a fandom quiz, a fandom game, and the raffle, plus lots of time to socialise.

Hope to see you there!

kazzy_cee

Roll up roll up! This is the official call to attendees for speakers.

"OMG!" I hear you cry - "I can't speak in front of people!!".

Well that's not a problem as someone from the committee will happily support you if you need it (either by physically being there to take a role in the presentation, and/or with help putting it together), but it would be great if we could have at least one more person willing to lead a discussion, or talk about something fandom related. It can be anything!

We have 90 minutes to fill. This can mean 3 half hour presentations/discussions or 1 hour long and one half hour, one. We have a projector and laptop for visual aids such as videos/pictures and notes if that's what you want as part of it.

Please reply in comments here or alternatively we are also happy to take suggestions for talks/discussions and please pimp far and wide as someone may not of heard of the event and might still want to come (we have a few places left).

Thanks!

It's only two months until this year's meeting at the Ramada Hotel, Coventry, on 7 - 9 September. We officially have enough people to go ahead, but more will be much merrier, so do please come and join us if you can!

We have several talks and a craft session planned -- more details nearer the time -- but we'll be asking for a few more volunteers in a separate post, so if you have a fandom-related enthusiasm you'd like to share with the rest of us, we want to hear from you!

The sign-up post is here!

For those who prefer to use LJ, there is also a sign-up post here.

Edit: Some people have had a problem booking a room at our special rate, but we've spoken to the hotel and all is sorted! Note that you do need to book by phone rather than online.

Dates:
Friday 7th September to Sunday 9th September

Venue:
Ramada Hotel, The Butts, Coventry, CV1 3GG

Membership Cost: £42.
This covers room hire, refreshments during breaks (including tea, coffee, pastries and cookies!) on Saturday and on Sunday morning, a private room for the Saturday evening buffet (but not the cost of the buffet itself, nor of other meals) and a GOODY BAG!

Programme:
Friday: Introductions, quiz, goody bags and socialising.
Saturday: A full day of talks, workshops and a craft session, followed by more socialising and the buffet.
Sunday morning: More talks, the AGM, the raffle, even more socialising... and goodbyes :-(

Accommodation:
Members are responsible for booking their own accommodation.

gillo and

hab318princess have arranged a special rate, so just mention that you're attending the Writercon event. The price is £70 per night for a single room and £80 for a double, and includes a breakfast buffet (where you can choose anything from a full English breakfast to fruit and yogurt). Car parking is free as a special favour to us.

As usual, there will be optional alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails, and an optional Friday evening trip to the Lebanese restaurant, Aqua.

...

Please, unless you really can't avoid it, don't wait until the last minute to sign up.

At last year's AGM, members voted to increase the membership fee to by £5 to £42 to cover increased costs. Financially, however, we will still need 19 people to ensure that we can pay for the venue, plus wine and goody bags. Last year, and the year before, we had a scare, and for a while we thought we'd have to cancel the event. This year, we'll be posting reminders on LJ and Dreamwidth, and sending out emails,

hils will be promoting us on social media as usual, and we'll generally be chasing you a bit. At the AGM we discussed setting a cut-off date ("Sign up by such-a-date or it's off") but no one can decide on a sensible date, so please sign up as soon as you can! You can pay nearer the time.

...

Signing up
To sign up for Writercon UK 2018, just comment on this post, copying and pasting the template below. The comments are screened, and if we need to clarify anything, I'll contact you by PM.

Your data -- username, real name, email address and PayPal account name -- will be used for the purpose of organising Writercon UK meetings only. It will be stored securely for two years, after which time it will be deleted, but you can ask to be removed from our mailing list and have your data deleted at any time.

Payment
You can register now, and pay later. Last call for payments will be a month before the event, but we'll remind you before that if you haven’t paid up!

This year we're using PayPal's 'Send money to friends and family' facility.

( Instructions under the cut... )

...

tlanti and

kazzy_cee will be recruiting speakers/workshop leaders shortly, and we'll remind you about raffle prizes nearer the time.

Finally - don't forget to pimp Writercon UK to all your friends!

...

People signed up so far (20):

bogwitch

enchantersnight

gowerstreetcat

hab318princess

hils

hobbituk

kazzy_cee

lady_smutterella

lilachigh

misc_plinks

ningloreth
Pixie Barefoot

signe_chan

thismaz

tlanti

trepkos

txorakeriak
Winifred Zachery

Hello everybody!

I'm very pleased to announce that, thanks to some brilliant negotiating by

gillo and

hab318princess, we have a date for our 2018 meeting.

WriterConUK 2018 will take place on 7th-9th September at the Ramada in Coventry.

Look out for the sign-up post, which will appear soon.

And, as usual, we'll be asking for people to run panels/workshops, so please get thinking!

Just two weeks to go until the meeting!

We have 16 people signed up so far, so there is still room for more. (If you want to see who you'll be spending the weekend with, there's a list of attendees on the sign-up post, here).

Here is the programme for this year's event, with a craft workshop, discussions, and lots of fun!

Raffle

One of the highlights of the weekend is the free raffle, which we hold on the Sunday morning as part of our AGM. Everybody--yes, everybody!--gets to choose a prize, and sometimes, thanks to the generosity of their fellow attendees, everybody gets to choose two!

In the past, we've had books, dvds, stationery, action figures and other fandom toys, wine, chocolates, offers of original artwork (including custom-made story banners), and beautiful knitted items, all donated by our generous attendees.

So when you pack your suitcase, please don't forget to bring one or two items for the raffle!

Friday Night trip to the Lebanese Restaurant

Last year, most of us ate at the Aqua Lebanese restaurant (which is just a few minutes' walk from the hotel) on the Friday night. The food was delicious and we had a lot of fun.

Please comment on this post if you'd like to eat at the restaurant, and I will book a table.

It's just two and a half months to WriterconUK! We already have 14 people signed up for the weekend:

bogwitch

gillo

hab318princess

hils

hobbituk

kazzy_cee

lilachigh
- Luke Bannon (lbjb247)

ningloreth
- Pixie Barefoot

spikereader

tlanti

txorakeriak

and a full programme of talks and workshops planned, including

kazzy_cee -- Music in fandom

gillo -- Inspiration without plagiarism

hab318princess -- Giving feedback

speakr2customrs -- Writing the perfect line

ningloreth -- Why we love fictional characters

hils -- Social media and fandom (discussion)

hobbituk -- Craft session

tlanti -- Getting inspiration from the things around you

(We'll post a proper timetable nearer the event). In addition, there will be the usual socialising, including

- Goody Bags
- Friday night's fandom quiz
- an optional trip to the Lebanese restaurant
- cocktails
- Saturday night's buffet
- the raffle
- and lots of time to talk about fandom and have fun with like-minded people.

And we still have room for more! Full details and the sign-up post are here on LiveJournal and here on Dreamwidth.

kazzy_cee

The official sign up and suggestion post :)

We are currently in the early stages of planning talks/sessions and so far we have - music in fandom, how we relate to fandom characters, (hopefully) a craft/practical session and at least one discussion session....

However - we still have a few 30 - 60 minute slots available so If you have something you would like to suggest even if you would rather not lead the talk/discussion yourself we would love to hear from you (yes, YOU!).

If you would like to be a part of the presentations please get in touch!

We can offer support and advice for any ideas so comment below and we can then start to finalise the programme for another fun packed WriterconUK event :)

We would rather have too many ideas so that we can pick the best - so do suggest something even if you don't want to deliver it or aren't able to attend. If you DO want to attend (and why wouldn't you?) it's not too late to sign up - more details here.

Dates:
Friday September 15th to Sunday 17th September

Venue:
Ramada Hotel, The Butts, Coventry, CV1 3GG

Membership Cost: £39.
This covers room hire, refreshments on Saturday and on Sunday morning, a private room for the Saturday evening buffet (but not the cost of the buffet itself, nor of other meals) and a GOODY BAG!

Programme:
Friday: Introductions, quiz, goody bags and socialising.
Saturday: A full day of talks and workshops by fanfic writers, fan vidders, and fan artists, followed by more socialising and the buffet.
Sunday morning: More talks, the AGM, the raffle, even more socialising... and goodbyes :-(

Accommodation:
Members are responsible for booking their own accommodation.

gillo has once again arranged a special rate, so just mention that you're attending the Writercon event. The price is £70 for a single room and £80 for a double, and there will be a 15% discount for members on all food and drink charged to your room over the weekend! Car parking is free as a special favour to us. (The hotel does not own the car park).

There will be cocktail menus and a Friday evening trip to the Lebanese restaurant, Aqua, with sign-up sheets, as usual.

...

To sign up for Writercon UK 2017, just comment on this post, copying and pasting the template below. The comments are screened, and if we need to clarify anything, I'll contact you by PM.

Payment
You can register now, and pay later. Last call for payments will be a month before the event, but we'll remind you before that if you haven’t paid up!

This year we've decided to use PayPal's 'Send money to friends and family' facility.

( Instructions under the cut... )

Note that membership numbers are limited to a maximum of 40, and membership will be on a first-come first-served basis :-)

Financially, the minimum number of people we need to make the event possible is 18.

...

tlanti and

bogwitch

enchantersnight

gillo

hab318princess

hils

hobbituk

immoral_crow

kazzy_cee

lilachigh
Luke Bannon (lbjb247)

ningloreth
Pixie Barefoot

spikereader

tlanti

txorakeriak

This is a plea as the treasurer of the UK WriterCon group!

If you are thinking of coming to meet up in Coventry in September, but haven't quite decided, could you possible let me/us know that you are a possible?

This is because we have to start buying goody-bag stuff - and I need a rough idea of how many of each (new and exciting) thing to buy!

Also we need a rough idea of how many people to organise the sweeties for... It would be terrible if we underestimated and ran out.

So - if you've been meaning to sign up, but not quite got around for it - here is the sign-up post; you don't have to pay right away, either.

And if you just want to say 'I might be coming', leave a comment here, or send me a message or whatever works for you.

And finally;

hobbituk says she will be driving up from somewhere in the Greater London area (you'll have to ask her where - I'm a bit vague about it I fear), and will happily give anyone* who contacts her a lift.

*Well - until her car is full, anyway!

Current Mood: busy

Sign up post for WriterConUK 2014

Dates:

Friday September 12th to Sunday 14th September

Venue:

Ramada Hotel, The Butts, Coventry City Centre.

Membership Cost: £35.

This covers our room hire, refreshments on Saturday and Sunday morning and Saturday afternoon, our private room for Saturday evening dinner (but not the cost of that dinner or other meals) and, of course GOODY BAGS.

Programme:

Full programme will be available closer to the dates, but in outline you can expect; Quiz/Icebreaker, Goodie Bags and Introductions on Friday evening.

A full day of talks and workshops by fanfic writers, fan vidders, and fan artists, on Saturday, followed by socialising, and supper*.

More socialising, drawing of the raffle, and AGM on Sunday morning.

A special cocktail menu will be available at the bar just for us, as last year.

Accommodation:

Members will be responsible for booking their own accommodation. Gill is discussing with the hotel whether we can get a special rate again this year - if you haven't been before here is their website.

Now the sign up bit; the comments to this post are screened and, to keep them that way, we will not reply directly to them. This means you can feel free to put the relevant info here. But if you prefer you can send it to me, or to

gillo or

tlanti, by PM. As long as we know the following;

1. The name you would like to have listed on your badge and the attendees list
2. Your fandoms (for quiz/icebreaker and workshop planning purposes)
3. Your primary fandom character (or pairing, if applicable) (this might be useful for the magical goodie bag creators) If you can also point to a source of pictures and information on less common fandoms, that would be wonderful too.
4. Any dietary preferences.

You may copy and paste this template, if it helps:

Your Online/Fandom Name:
Fandoms:
Primary Fandom and Pairing/Character:
Particular dietary preferences:

Payment

You may register now, by commenting to this post, without paying just yet – last call for payments will be a month before the event – but we are likely to start poking you before that if you haven’t paid up!

To pay - use this PayPal button.

Unless you make your on-line name obvious from your Paypal payment details please either include the name that the payment will come from in you info in the screened comment, or use the private message function to contact

curiouswombat and let me know your real name, so that I can match the Paypal payment with your online identity. This is important, otherwise I will end up with a number of payments with no matching attendee, and a number of attendees without matching payments…

Please note:

Membership numbers are limited to a maximum of 40. Membership will be on a first- come first-served basis.

There is a list of those who have already signed up HERE.

Finally - please do spread the word!

PS - I am actually deleting the comments regularly, after copying the info, to prevent any of us accidentally unscreening them - so don't be worried if your comment seems to have disappeared.

Current Mood: bouncy

I have an apology to make - I realise, looking back over notes from the last committee meeting, in June, that as I was the person most able to make a post, I was meant to do this then.

Re Committee Membership;

daiseechain has decided to step down from her post as Secretary at the AGM in August, This means that she needs to be replaced this year.

gillo & I would be very happy to also step down, as we will have served for longer than previous committee members, should anyone want to take over as either Chairperson or Treasurer We are, otherwise, giving a full year's notice that we will step down at the AGM in 2014.

Current Mood: apologetic